Factors controlling the development of carbonate reservoirs of Ordovician Yingshan formation in the Gucheng area, Tarim Basin

Deep carbonate rocks are important targets for oil and gas exploration in China. In recent years, significant oil/gas discoveries have been made in the deep carbonate sequences in the Tarim, Sichuan, Ordos, and Bohai Bay basins. Despite significant oil/gas discoveries, large-scale exploration has not been conducted in the Gucheng area in the Tarim Basin. To break the bottleneck restricting the petroleum exploration in the Gucheng area, this study analyzed the factors controlling the formation of carbonate reservoirs of the Yingshan Formation in the Gucheng area in detail based on the basic geological conditions of the study area and the data from cores, thin sections, well logging, testing, and 3-D seismic survey. The inner shallow-ramp in the Gucheng area acts as the main sedimentary facies zone for the development of high-quality reservoirs. The grainstones formed in the high-energy environment of the inner shallow-ramp laid the foundation for subsequent reservoir development in the study area. The dolomitized shoal grainstones in the inner shallow-ramp have well-developed intercrystalline pores and intercrystalline dissolved pores due to later dolomitization, thus serving as high-quality reservoirs. Strike-slip faults are crucial to reservoir reformation and determine whether high production can be achieved in oil and gas exploitation in the study area. Moreover, later reformation by hydrothermal solutions also plays a constructive role in reservoir formation. [Display omitted] •Medium-coarse-crystalline dolomites in the inner shallow ramp serve as favorable lithofacies zones.•Strike-slip faults play an important role in reservoir transformation.•Hydrothermal solutions play a constructive role in reservoir reformation.